-orioussuffix

Etymology: Partly < post-classical Latin -oriosus (in e.g. victoriosus; French victorieux victorious adj.), and partly < -ōri- (in classical Latin -ōrius, -ōria, -ōrium: see -ory suffix²) + -ous suffix. Compare Middle French, French -orieux.The pattern was perhaps established in words borrowed from Latin words (or their French reflexes) ending in -oriosus , especially victorious adj. (15th cent.). Most of the English examples are directly formed upon Latin adjectives in -ōrius , e.g. censorious adj., contradictorious adj. (15th cent.), uxorious adj. (16th cent.), and perhaps were favoured as imitating their syllabic shape. In many cases they are parallel to and later and rarer than formations in -ory suffix², e.g. transitorious adj. (15th cent.), desultorious adj. (17th cent.), saltatorious adj. (19th cent.), although of a few pairs it is the one in -orious which has remained current, e.g. meritorious adj., notorious adj.¹ (15th cent.). A few are formed with -ious suffix from nouns in -or , e.g. proditorious adj. (15th cent.). In a very few rare words the adjective is an English formation in -orious on an actual or inferred base, e.g. ventorious adj. (17th cent.), ustorious adj. (18th cent.).